Up to 40 Babies Found Murdered, Decapitated in Hamas Massacre of Israeli Kibbutz: Reports

Dozens of babies were brutally murdered — some even decapitated — by Hamas terrorists inside a kibbutz in southern Israel during Saturday's shocking assault on Israeli civilians, according to journalists who were let in to see the aftermath of the massacre, in the most ghastly war crime committed in the conflict thus far.

The bodies of 40 babies were discovered by Israeli soldiers in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, located just outside Gaza, the Israel-based i24 News first reported. In kibbutzim, babies are typically housed together in a single nursery.

A spokesperson for the IDF confirmed the reports of beheaded babies to Insider on Wednesday. 

The IDF has since said it could not confirm the presence of beheaded babies in Kfar Aza. 

However, the prime minister's office said the reports are accurate.

The Messenger could not independently verify the facts of the report about beheaded babies. 

It was unclear how many of the bodies had been desecrated.

"It's hard to even explain exactly the mass casualties that happened right here," i24 correspondent Nicole Zedeck reported from Kfar Aza, where she said she spoke to Israeli soldiers who saw the aftermath of the massacre firsthand.

Zedeck was part of a contingent of reporters let in by Israeli security forces to view what remained of the kibbutz. A French journalist who was part of that contingent also confirmed that "infants and children under 2" had been beheaded, saying she and others saw the images "with their own eyes."

"It's not a war, it's not a battle. It's a massacre," said IDF Major General Itai Veruv as he spoke to the media on the scene.

“It’s something we used to imagine from our grandmothers, grandfathers in pogroms in Europe and other places."

A visibly shaken Zedeck reported seeing "baby cribs thrown to the side," "strollers left behind," and bodies that were yet to be recovered because the fighting had only recently ended and IDF soldiers were still going "house to house" to clear and secure the area. The bodies of dozens of Hamas terrorists were still on the ground.

Kfar Aza was the scene of mass kidnappings that were witnessed by journalists Saturday, including several abductions done by men driving golf carts. AP reporters saw at least four people taken from their homes at the kibbutz, including two women.

This story was updated to reflect new IDF statements about the reports from Kfar Aza.